Authorities issue details on sanctioned Russians

| 28/02/2022 | 185 Comments
Cayman News Service
CIMA and Cayman Islands Stock Exchange offices in George Town

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and the Financial Reporting Authority have issued notices to the financial services sector. These are based on directions from the UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and outline the latest sanctions imposed by the UK on individual wealthy Russian oligarchs.

The list includes President Vladimir Putin, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov as well as various Russian banks and institutions. The move is part of the international response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday.

The latest notices outline what financial firms here must do if they maintain any accounts or hold any funds or economic resources for the people and entities named.

Corporate service providers, lawyers and others working with any person or entity on the list must freeze accounts or other assets, refrain from dealing with the funds or assets or making them available, and report any findings and information relating to the assets to the Financial Reporting Authority. Firms here are reminded that it is a criminal offence not to comply with the sanctions requirements.

On Monday, the Financial Reporting Authority, issued an additional Financial Sanctions Notice based on another update to the list by the UK adding three more banks. The FRA has also published all of the details of the sanction orders issued this month against Russia on its website here.

CNS has asked the authorities a number of questions about the Russian business that Cayman may be involved in but has had no response. Given the privacy laws, there is no way for the press or public in Cayman to see the extent of assets registered here that relate to Russian individuals or entities that have been sanctioned, including Putin, Lavrov or any of the other well known Russians, such as the owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, who has not yet been sanctioned but is believed to be in the firing line.

While it is understood that wealthy Russians could hold a considerable amount of real estate in the Cayman Islands, the figures are not available since many of them are owned by offshore companies. It is not clear whether these sanctions enable the seizure of the mega-yachts flying a Cayman flag that are owned by Russian oligarchs who are on the sanctions list.

Meanwhile, more than a week ago and before the invasion, because of concerns about corruption the UK scrapped its “golden visa” system that allows wealthy foreigners a fast track to live in the UK, which many Russians had used.

It is not clear if any Russians have taken advantage of Cayman’s Global Citizen Programme or its permanent residency through independent means, and if so, if any of them will be revoked as a result of the current circumstances.


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Category: Business, Financial Services, Politics

Comments (185)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    So let me see if I got this straight. Under the guise of producing “weapons of mass destruction” the United States started a war with Iraq, killed its leader and spent trillions of dollars at the cost of thousands of American lives.
    Only for the world to find out the reason for the war was not true – US never produced evidence of weapons of Mass destruction.
    Oh and by the way I am a Desert Storm/Desert Shield Vet.

    So now Russia invades part of Ukraine. The far left fake news does not report on the ultra right wing Nazis within Ukraine, does not report about the common corruption within Ukraine and does not talk about Russian language being taken out of the easternmost districts. Who is doing the ethnic cleansing? Who?
    To me it is ironic that the US is calling out Russia for its’ action when in fact the US is one of the worlds biggest tyrants (if not with war, then by financial sanctions).

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  2. Anonymous says:

    So as a law abiding Russian national in this jurisdiction you are going to penalize me because of my nationality. Hmmmmn double standard when it comes to human rights – even within a small island nation called the Cayman Islands.

    • Sir Humphrey says:

      If you are / were a Putin enabler then I have no problem penalizing you. Did you launder money here in real estate?

      What about the right for an independent state such as Ukraine to exist?

      If tomorrow Cuba decided to invade and take over the Cayman Islands because power is right then I am certain you would be concerned. The bully beating up the little guy.

      • Rasputin says:

        Yet another consumer of the world’s greatest psychological operation in history.

      • Anonymous says:

        Interesting thought. Cuba and Venezuela could very easily invade the Cayman Islands and would probably if they felt threatened as it’s so close. So the Caymans can’t be used by the UK/US.

        • Anonymous says:

          Complete fantasy.

          • Anonymous says:

            Yes it is. those countries are a disaster and poor but they do have militaries.

          • Anonymous says:

            yeah I know but still true they have militaries. Embarrassing for Cubans that Cuba supports the war.

            • Anonymous says:

              To both of you, neither can project force beyond their borders anymore. No doubt they feel threatened every day, but just the USCG cutters in the Caribbean are more navy than either Cuba or Venezuela possess. So is the Royal Navy. Not to mention the USAF an hour away at most.

    • Rasputin says:

      The outright growing hatred for Russians here is quite troubling and a poor reflection on the Cayman Islands. This Russophobia is unjustified and those responsible for it here are showing their true prejudiced colors.

      • Anonymous says:

        There is a way to partially recoup crimes of your country. Make a public statement denouncing Russian government and donate $10K to Ukraine relief fund.

      • Anonymous says:

        Russia’s president is a corrupt, fascist, murderous xenophobe, as well as quite possibly mad. Our opposition to him and his supporters and enablers is well-deserved.

        But we need to beware of generalizing. That opposition should not extend to all Russians. There are good and bad Russians just as there are good and bad Ukrainians – or any other peoples. Yes, even Americans.

        The west’s rhetoric and sanctions should have one aim: to undermine the Russian regime, we hope fatally. Not to harm or disparage individuals just because they are Russians.

        • Anonymous says:

          How can one distinguish from the other? You think the names at the bank say Putin, Oligarch Et al.? Nope. It’s up to Russians to stand up to Puntin if they want to be free from sanctions.

      • Big Bobo In West Bay says:

        Crimes against humanity by the leader of your Russian people will result in a lot of resentment for years to come.

        Your leader has now created a pariah Russian state just like Hitler did in the 1940’s with Germany.

        As his “very, very good friend” in Florida would say 😢. Sad.

      • Anonymous says:

        Sometimes a russian oligarch is just a business man in my opinion. If he does the same as others do and it’s not illegal what is the problem. Different of course if the russian oligarch supports Putin and his actions also in the past.

      • Hubert says:

        Now the Russians are attacking the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

        This will be many times worse than Chernobyl. Millions will die.

        Burn in hell Rasputin.

    • Anonymous says:

      Are you a Russian citizen? If so, then yes, you must be penalized. It’s called collective responsibility, which goes hand in hand with you right as a Russian citizen. Go back to your Ust-Zadrischensk.

    • Rasputin says:

      The smooth brains that want to sanction them Russian should know that Russia supplies 40% of Europe’s fertilizers.
      Block that and you will have food shortages not seen since 1945.

      The world is complicated, believe it or not.

      • Anonymous says:

        Europe will manage. There’s a lot of fertilizer in the world. You can read some of it on this site.

  3. Anonymous says:

    The Realtors need to be monitored during this time. Enough of them enriching themselves with Oligarch money.

    • Drok says:

      Hardly. Cayman property is not going to be sufficiently expensive to attract the oligarch market.

      • Anonymous says:

        Drok u know nothing.

      • Anonymous says:

        Back in 2009, CSIS estimated that Oligarch Vitaly Malkin owned no less than 111 Toronto condominiums, among 21 lines of secret redacted comments from Canadian embassy in Moscow, which a Canadian Federal judge deemed too embarrassing to publish. Their laundering created the hot urban real estate markets, even in entirely unappealing locations/jurisdictions, as have other authoritarian state contingency investors, and sovereign wealth kleptocrats. It’s not a secret, more of a wink-wink that needs to stop. These properties need to be reported, and forfeited with owners ejected and their enabling laundering nominee smurfs exposed and sanctioned out of the market.

  4. Rass Putin says:

    Funny thing about dictators and their henchmen. They prefer to keep their children and money in stable democracies with real laws and regulations safeguarding person and property. They don’t have much confidence in the sh*tholes that they lord over.

  5. Capt Haddock says:

    Cayman needs to get out in front now. The UK is enacting emergency legislation to go after the oligarchs. The super yachts are high profile targets and mostly Cayman flagged. Even the Swiss are doing something. Sitting about waiting and hand wringing in the hopes of hanging on to a sliver of yacht business is plain silly at this point.

    • Anonymous says:

      You will need to do exactly what London tells you to do about this. Nothing more, nothing less. Your foreign policy is whatever they de cide.

      • Sir Humphrey says:

        The problem the UK has is that they already have excellent laws on the books to go after dirty Russian money, however, because there are a number of high power Conservative MP’s and Tories in the House of Lords who have very close relationships with Russian oligarchs the laws are not being enforced for political reasons.

        The British political system has been compromised by Russian dirty money and as we also saw in the 2016 Trump campaign Russian money is assisting in helping to destroy the American political system too.

        Follow the money and see the leeching of democracy by kleptocrats. Time to look at our Cayman Islands too. We are also enablers if one looks closely at what we do here with kleptocrats from Russia and China through companies that are not transparent.

        Too many people have been compromised by dirty money around the world.

        • Anonymous says:

          Actually the increased disclosure of the Beneficial ownership of UK property was drafted and finalized 3 years ago and still has yet to be passed into law by Borris.

    • Rasputin says:

      Economic punishment is tantamount to war against Russia. If world powers collapse their economy, it could start World War 3.

      Leaders should tread very carefully. India, China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia would be formidable enemies.

      • Enola Gay says:

        Dead wrong. Appeasement only encourages tyrants. Overwhelming force is the only option. Look how well Japan has turned out after WW2.

        • Rasputin says:

          Hey warmonger, the Ukrainian military is taking volunteers.

          Also, your user name is not cool. I suppose you support the annihilation of the Japanese civilians by being incinerated alive for no other reason than cruelty since the war was very much over when those atrocities were made.

          • Anonymous says:

            It’s just a troll. Take what he says as a joke

          • Anonymous says:

            The war was not nearly over. Yes, Japan had lost most of its conquered territory, but was still fighting (and committing genocide) in China and would have remained a menace. The world wasn’t going to just leave them be on Japan to let htem rebuild their destroyed fleet and air force. It was either use the nukes or invade, which would have cost even more lives lost. It wasn’t an easy decision for Truman, and I would argue that the second nuke wasn’t necessary, but he made a calculated decision to save American lives.

          • Anonymous says:

            Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Enola Gay is right.

      • Johnny Canuck says:

        Mad Monk, you don’t think Ukraines economy has been punished by your Russian friends?

        • Rasputin says:

          You think punishing the people of Russia for the actions of its leader are justified.

          Sanctions are punitive and an act of aggression.

          • Anonymous says:

            3:34 yes, they can take it to the polls. Vote him out, if Russia does have real elections. If not, they can throw him out as the brave Ukrainians did to the Russian puppet president they used to have.

        • Rasputin says:

          My Russian friends? I have no hate for any ethnic group of people, especially the Russian people who have no part to play in military actions.

          Know anywhere where I can enjoy some borscht here?

    • Rasputin says:

      Whoa there. Google Maidan Revolution in 2014. The situation in Ukraine is very complicated and the United States’ meddling in regime change is clearly detailed. There is more than meets the eye with this situation. Don’t fall for the world’s greatest psy-op so easily.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Russia invades Ukraine, US blamed.

    CNS: As far as I can tell, the only people blaming the US for the invasion of Ukraine are the governments of China and North Korea, and of course Americans blaming each other (it’s Trump, Obama or Biden’s fault). Everyone else is blaming Putin.

    • Rasputin says:

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/nato-expansion-war-russia-ukraine

      “Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine is an act of aggression that will make already worrisome tensions between Nato and Moscow even more dangerous. The west’s new cold war with Russia has turned hot. Vladimir Putin bears primary responsibility for this latest development, but Nato’s arrogant, tone‐​deaf policy toward Russia over the past quarter‐​century deserves a large share as well. Analysts committed to a US foreign policy of realism and restraint have warned for more than a quarter‐​century that continuing to expand the most powerful military alliance in history toward another major power would not end well. The war in Ukraine provides definitive confirmation that it did not.”

      CNS: Proving my point. The author of this commentary is an American, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

      • Anonymous says:

        What the world should take note of is that Russian power is a myth. They are having such a hard time with Ukraine that they now need the help of Belarus and the Chechen thug military. This is why Russia always acts tough, they’re nothing more than the bully that runs crying for help when he gets punched in the face.

        • Rasputin says:

          Russia still has the most nuclear warheads on Earth and their determination to win at all costs won World War 2. The Red Army drove back the Germans, a fact that western educational institutions often ignores.

          не дразни медведя
          ne drazni medvedya

          Don’t poke the bear

          • Anonymous says:

            Hey Putin supporter, many nations have nuclear weapons that will respond immediately. Ever heard of Mutually Assured Destruction? Poke a shark in the eye and get swallowed whole!

            • Rasputin says:

              Typical response from anyone blindly swallowing what mainstream media is feeding them. One needs not be a Putin supporter to question the narrative.

          • Hubert says:

            Oh Mad Monk, you are so ignorant. Obviously you have never heard of MAD ( mutually assured destruction).

            It is game over for all of us if the nukes start flying.

            When the bear attacks you u fight back if u want to live.

            The Ukrainians are fighting for their lives.

            • Rasputin says:

              Hey Hubert, the Palestinians face horrors from the Israelis daily.

              When they fight back, people like you call them terrorists.

          • Anonymous says:

            What is that terrorist language you wrote in? These comments are in English. Go elsewhere if you want to support Putin and his band of thug mobsters.

            • Rasputin says:

              It’s Russian, you idiot. Referring to Russians as terrorists shows how ignorant you truly are.

              • Anonymous says:

                You are a prime example of why others do not like Russians.

              • Anonymous says:

                Turn on the television and see why. There are innocent people including children being massacred. Why, because they chose to be free and deal with the west instead of being putin puppets?

          • Anonymous says:

            What are you talking about? Western educational institutions don’t ignore the fact that the Red Army pushed back the Germans. You can even read about that on Wikipedia for goodness sake. However, just to make one thing perfectly clear: The Red Army wouldn’t have been able to do what it did in the time it did if the western allies hadn’t created a Western front with the D-Day landings (to go with the steady progress up the Italian peninsula). The Germans were too stretched to put up enough fight to stop the onslaught from two directions.

          • Miami Dave says:

            But it is the Russians who are now attacking the largest nuclear reactor in Europe in Ukraine.

            This will be much worse than Chernobyl by 10 times.

        • Rasputin says:

          “There is now a NATO missile base in Poland 100 miles from the Russian border. … Yet they did it anyway. It made no geopolitical sense. But it made commercial sense. War, after all, is a business, a very lucrative one.”
          — Chris Hedges

          https://consortiumnews.com/2022/02/25/chris-hedges-chronicle-of-a-war-foretold/

          • Anonymous says:

            Very true – I served there – and now I here in one of the most corrupt countries on earth – the Cayman Islands

          • Anonymous says:

            Best to have your anti-ballistic missiles close to the border, no? Why put them where they are less useful? I have no doubt Ukraine wishes they had them too.

          • Anonymous says:

            Looks like there will be more now. Russia could have had normal, peaceful borders, but noooo— got to invade its neighbors.

      • Sir Humphrey says:

        Rasputin, Perhaps you completely missed the Russian annexation of a large part of Georgia and the annexation of the Crimea from Ukraine.

        Tone deaf? Stronger action against Russia should have been taken when those annexations occurred. NATO did nothing.

        Now Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. Are they tone deaf too?

    • Anonymous says:

      Lots of varying opinions right here.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well, there are the numerous commenters right here.

      CNS: I think you are confusing criticism of the Iraq war (sparked by the erroneous assertion that no one protested that conflict) with blaming the US for this invasion by Russian forces. There is at least one Putin apologist who seems to blame Nato, of which the US is a part, but I can’t see any comments that blame the US only (up to this point).

    • Anonymous says:

      CNS I recommend you listen to what Prof. John Mearsheimer had to say about this in 2016

      https://youtu.be/JrMiSQAGOS4

      CNS: I don’t have time to watch the whole thing but I found a summary here.

      In short, countries bordering Russia must remain under Putin’s thumb, whatever the people of those countries want. Personally, I find this position disturbing, especially as we are now seeing just how much the people of Ukraine don’t want that.

      This was written in 2014 but could have been written yesterday: A Reply to John Mearsheimer: Putin is Not a Realist

      Also – What’s driving Putin’s invasion of Ukraine? A former NATO chief who met him explains.

    • Rasputin says:

      I wish the world blacklisted American musicians, sanctioned American banks, revoked SWIFT, isolated them, tanked their economy etc in response to the crime of the century that was the Iraq war.

      Could have spared millions of lives over the years, including the ones in Ukraine

      • Anonymous says:

        How is it the Americans fault that your country is committing genocide? Stop sympathizing with a mass murderer.

  7. Csp says:

    The corporate services providers and lawyers don’t generally have access to funds or accounts to be able to freeze them. This should be aimed at the banks.

    • Hubert says:

      There needs to be public disclosure of the Russian individuals and companies behind the real estate in the Cayman Islands.

      Many law firms based here know fully well that there are Russians behind some of these money laundered real estate deals here.

      The Russian oligarchs also launder their money in real estate in NYC and Miami.

      We need to crack down on these activities now.

      • Anonymous says:

        Can we do Israelis and Americans and the other counties performing war atrocities daily while we’re at it?

        • Moshe says:

          Interesting that Israel is one of the few countries that has refused to condemn Russia and Putin as he attempts to kill / extinguish the Jewish Ukrainian President.

      • Rasputin says:

        It’s estimated that 36 million people across 3,000 demonstrations globally, protested against the US occupation of Iraq in 2003. EVERYONE disagreed, right?

        Did any institution have the will, let alone power, to freeze the central banking system of the United States?

      • Sarasota Steve says:

        The Cayman Islands financial services sector needs to do its part to make life difficult for mega wealthy Russians who enable President Putin in his continuing efforts to bring down democracy.

        We know there is dirty Russian money that passes through the Cayman Islands so let’s do our part.

        We all have a vested interest in seeing democracy survive.

      • Rasputin says:

        Thank goodness the UK makes those decisions and not people like you.

    • Sir Humphrey says:

      But the Caymanian based lawyers know where all the Russian bodies are hidden.

      • Johnny Canuck says:

        Oh, but it is all commercially confidential, Sir Humphrey.

        Wonder if a nuke is launched on Manhattan or London will get them to make an exception in terms of commercial confidentiality?

        We all go down if Putin starts launching nukes.

        Think about it Cayman based lawyers.

        • Anonymous says:

          Real estate agents are on the frontlines.

          • Miami Dave says:

            No the real estate agents are peripheral. It’s the Cayman based lawyers who are the enablers and in the Russian frontlines.

            The real estate agents usually don’t know the companies that buy the properties. All they see are the big $$$’s and commissions.

          • Anonymous says:

            Yup. Many installed to work on behalf of the lawyers and banks. It’s a murky profession.

        • Anonymous says:

          KleptoCapture is now in progress:

          https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-announces-launch-task-force-kleptocapture

          “…using the most cutting-edge investigative techniques…Even if defendants cannot be immediately detained, asset seizures and civil forfeitures of unlawful proceeds — including personal real estate, financial, and commercial assets — will be used to deny resources that enable Russian aggression…Arrests and prosecution will be sought when supported by the facts and the law.”

      • Anonymous says:

        You mean “Cayman-based” (not “Caymanian based) lawyers.

        Caymanian lawyers, aside from token Caymanian lawyers, do not have any knowledge.

        It is, predominantly, British (and other foreign) lawyers that might know where “bodies are hidden”.

      • Anonymous says:

        …and, they are also aware of the local families friends & business partners affiliate with them (i.e. Russian Elites & Oligarchs).

      • Rasputin says:

        This hate for Russian people shows how prejudiced, ignorant and xenophobic you are.

        • Anonymous says:

          Russians are not terrorists. Putin is the terrorist war criminal. I wish his army would stop acting on his orders. The massacre of innocent people in Ukraine has to stop.

      • Johnny Canuck says:

        Sir Humphrey is correct. It is all public knowledge thanks to excellent investigative journalism reporting. Take a look at the Paradise Papers

    • Anonymous says:

      Most law firms and lawyers, albeit not all, have client trust accounts.

      Many law firms have an affiliated FSP. Banks definitely are on the frontline.

    • Anonymous says:

      London Banks.

    • Anonymous says:

      They are aimed at everyone, banks included.

    • Miami Dave says:

      But Csp the Caymanian law firms do set up Limited Liability Corporations for Russians.

      They are basically enablers.

      The LLC has to be formed first before the banks come into the financial game.

  8. Anonymous says:

    The USA announced that it’s creating a task force to locate and freeze assets of oligarchs. They made sure to state “mansion and yachts”. It’s a brilliant way of getting them to back off, show them what it’s like to live like the rest of us.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Where was all this hate for the United States when they invaded the sovereign counties of Iraq not once, but twice as well as Afghanistan?

    Were we condemning the “shock and awe” campaigns or cheering them on?

    Is it because the Ukrainian people look and live differently than those in the Middle East?

    CNS: There were massive protests around the world. You just weren’t paying attention (because it was in the Middle East?). Why Was the Biggest Protest in World History Ignored? Or see here. There’s plenty of info online if you are interested.

    • Anonymous says:

      Iraq was ruled by a crazy dictator who gassed his own people. He attacked his neighbors etc this list goes on and on. No sane person would feel much sympathy for Saddam being removed.

      CNS: True, but Saddam being awful to his people wasn’t the reason for the war. Many Iraqis died in the war and many suffered during and afterwards. There was no after-war plan and what was rolled out was disastrous and gave rise to insurgencies and ultimately to Isis.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Pretty bad look when all these yachts get seized and they are proudly flying our Cayman flag….

    • Martin Ian Davies says:

      European newspapers report that Oligarchs are desperately trying to move their yachts to “safe havens”. Cayman has to decide if it wants to be such a safe haven or whether it will stand with the people of Ukraine who are being bombed out of their homes. There is no room for moral incertitude.

      • Anon says:

        The Cayman Islands are not considered a safe haven by the oligarchs. Try Maldives. Not Cayman, British rule and all that old boy..

        • Moshe says:

          9:30, Well old boy you are so young and naive. Oleg Deripaska thought it was a safe haven.

          Check out Pericles Emerging Partners which is / was registered in the Cayman Islands and Trump’s Campaign Manager Paul Manafort who went to jail and was pardoned by Trump.

          Thanks to the Mueller Investigation Manaforts activities in Ukraine came out to the public and the link with Deripaska’s billions.

      • Anonymous says:

        The Cayman Islands has International Agreements/Treaties to comply with in regards to extradition, asset seizure & forfeiture.
        The order of OFAC/U.S. Treasury Sanctions & EU Sanctions against Russia has invoked the asset seizures.
        Therefore, mooring luxury yatchs in Cayman Islands ports or Cayman Waters is NOT a Safe Haven under the current sanctions in place.

        • Sarasota Steve says:

          9:36, Just too bad the CIG don’t enforce anything. London is no better in terms of enforcing laws on the books.

          It is all about politics and the influence of the Russian oligarchs within our system.

    • Hubert says:

      Don’t worry 8:46, all of the oligarchs yachts are on their way or have already been reflagged with The Maldives.

      The Maldives has no extradition treaties with anyone so the oligarchs yachts are safe there.

  11. Capt Haddock says:

    How about a little emergency legislation authorising the immediate termination of the Certificate of Registry of any Cayman Islands flagged vessel beneficially owned by a national of a country upon which international sanctions have been imposed by the USA and EU as a result of invading another country?

    • Anonymous says:

      Better yet, let’s use history and facts and examine the history of every imperialist country. Where shall we start?

    • Anonymous says:

      Pretty idiotic idea Capt Haddock.

      Best to freeze these yachts and halt any dealing in these yachts.

      Don’t delete them and let their ownership and flag go back to Russian friendly ownership structures and flags.

      • Anonymous says:

        They’ll simply reflag to the Marshall Islands or one of the other registers that has a government who are neither concerned with what happens in Ukraine or an overseas territory of one who is.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Other jurisdictions are removing Russian vodka and other products from retail outlets as a show of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. We should do that as well.

    • Bobo Fett says:

      Try reading factual news sometime. It’s fun.

      https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/02/26/vodka-russia-most-vodka-brands-u-s-arent-russian/6952976001/

      “But the most popular vodkas in the U.S. — including Smirnoff, Ciroc, Tito’s, Absolut, Svedka, Grey Goose, SKYY and New Amsterdam — are not made in Russia. They are made in Sweden, France, the U.K. and the U.S.”

      “Stoli vodka, which is made in Latvia (which is a NATO member country) is owned by a company in Luxembourg that is controlled by Yuri Shefler, a Russian-born billionaire who left Russia, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.”

    • Anonymous says:

      We don’t sell Russian vodka here.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s really the most idiotic idea, like “freedom fries” years ago when US tried to punish France for something, I don’t remember what. Most of Russian sounding Vodka not made in Russia and not even owned by Russians. Just like this political situation – it’s so multilayered that nothing is black or white anymore, if you are smart enough to realize it.

    • Anonymous says:

      It’s really the most idiotic idea, like “freedom fries” years ago when US tried to punish France for something, I don’t remember what. Most of Russian sounding Vodka not made in Russia and not even owned by Russians. Just like this political situation – it’s so multilayered that nothing is black or white anymore, if you are smart enough to realize it.

    • Master Chef says:

      Which Vodkas are Russian? It’s certainly none which are sold here. The names may sound Russian, but Smirnoff and Stolichnaya are produced in NATO countries.

    • Anonymous says:

      We should ask which vodkas are actually sold here that are produced in Russia. Unfortunately, Russian Standard isn’t available here, and the other “Russian sounding” brands aren’t produced in Russia at all.

      Can we burn some Nikes instead?

      • Anonymous says:

        10:48 Absolutely! Vodka works very well as lighter fluid. Brilliant idea in sending that message to the evil invaders and the child labour apparel company.

    • Anonymous says:

      4:57 The flaw in this plan is that any Russian Vodka on our shelves has already been bought and paid for so pouring it down the drain is only symbolic and doesn’t do anything and is frankly wasteful. If you want to “punish” Russia as it were you need to stop importing the goods. No trade = no money!

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